New Jersey sportsbooks brought in $3.8 million in gross revenue on a handle of $40.6 million in bets during July, the first full month of legal sports betting in the state.
That figure is up from the $16.4 million total handle in June, even after adjusting for the fact that sports betting was only available starting on June 14.
Meadowlands Top Spot
The state’s fledgling sports betting industry saw two more locations open in July, with the FanDuel Sportsbook at the Meadowlands opening on July 14, and Bally’s opening their book on July 30.
While the Meadowlands didn’t open their sportsbook until the middle of the month, they quickly became the dominant force in the state, collecting $1.35 million in revenue over the second half of July.
“It’s not a surprise, but it looks like we’re going to dominate the market,” Meadowlands operator Jeff Gural told the Associated Press. “The real test will come when companies get their sportsbook online, because that’s where most of the customers are expected to come from.”
The Meadowlands has a couple of key advantages when it comes to their brick-and-mortar operation. The location is the closest and most convenient venue for gamblers in New York City and the surrounding metro area, giving the sportsbook a huge population of potential bettors to draw on. During NFL season, it will also benefit from being near MetLife Stadium, which is the home of both the New York Giants and the New York Jets.
Monmouth Park Revenues Decline
It appeared that the Meadowlands’ success may have come at the expense of Monmouth Park. The Oceanport racetrack was the first location in the state to take legal sports bets, and was prominent in the fight to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. Those factors gave Monmouth Park an early boost, allowing it to take nearly $2.3 million in revenue during June.
But that number fell to just $856,280 in July, putting the track squarely in third place behind the Meadowlands and Ocean Resort Casino, which took in just over $1 million for the month.
Despite the precipitous drop, Monmouth Park operator Dennis Drazin said he was happy with the numbers coming in.
“We were expecting there to be a lull during the All-Star break when there’s not a lot of content to bet on,” Drazin told the Asbury Park Press. “Our Vegas partner [William Hill] said historically that’s the worst week of the entire year. And frankly I didn’t expect to see a lot of play on preseason football.”
In the battle between the two Atlantic City casinos that were active in sports betting for the entire month, Ocean came out ahead of the Borgata, which brought in $562,830 for the month.
Both the Ocean and Monmouth Park sportsbooks are run by William Hill US, and CEO Joe Asher says that his company is pleased with the early numbers coming out of those operations.
“They are clearly exceeding our expectations of where we thought we would be at this early stage,” Asher told the AP. “There’s no doubt the New Jersey sports betting market has a lot of potential.”
Based on the cash accounting used in New Jersey, sportsbooks had about a 9.4 percent hold for the month. However, the Division of Gaming Enforcement also shared the win percentage for completed events – the figure traditionally reported in Nevada — which came in at 5.8 percent.